12/04/06
Tried this last night:
1. DomaineCombier Crozes-Hermitage Blanc (13%; MeBaD) 2005: Light gold color; rather fragrant/ floral honeysuckle/carnation/Roussanne slight appley some earthy/minerally complex nose; tart rather steely/minerally/earthy somewhat perfumed/floral/honeysuckle light oak rather rich/lush bit spicy/nutmeg flavor; med.long stony/minerally rich/lush/tart floral/honeysuckle finish; will do well for 2-5 yrs; speaks a lot of Roussanne w/ some Marsanne perhaps; a lovely example of C-H Blanc at a more than fair price. $27.00 Blanc at a more than fair price. $27.00
Tried this wine this weekend:
1. SonomaCoastVnyds HummingbirdHillVnyd SonomaCoast SauvignonBlanc (13.8%; Clone 1 & SauvignonMusque; 35% barrel frmtd; 5 mo.sur lie, French oak; 1116 cs; TA: 0.72, pH: 3.23; http://www.SonomaCoastVineyards.com) 2005: Very pale/near colorless; fragrant/perfumed rather melony/SB quite minerally almost chalky very light oak lovely/complex nose; tart lush ripe/melony/SB no herbal/grassy/vegetal very minerally/interesting balanced/spicy complex flavor; very long/lingering tart round/lush ripe/melony/SB very minerally complex finish; beautiful quite Loire-like SB at a great price. $25.00
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And Tony gets a BloodyPulpit:
1. I recently ordered a 4-pak of the SonomaCoastVnyds wines. This is the winery of Tony Austin, who I've followed from the very start in his days at Firestone in the mid-'70's. I'm not a very big fan of SauvBlanc. I find them often lean/hard or at the other extreme Chard wannabes.
This one was definitely NOT that. It had a lot of ripe melon character, yet a razor-sharp/vibrant minerality much like a great Loire. Maybe even a Dagueneau wine in style. Generally, SBs of this high an acidity level are hurtey on the palate. This had a rich/lush texture but an acidty that made the wine reverberate across the walls of the palate like a LasVega light show. It's pretty rare to find SauvBlanc grown out on the extreme SonomaCoast, so I had low expectations for this wine.
IMHO, one of the greatest SBs I've ever had in my life. Kudos to Tony Austin on this one.
11/13/06
Just got my ATP shipment last week & thought I'd try:
1. Ridge Calif Zin LyttonEast (18% PS, 6% Grenache, DryCreekVlly; 15.1%; 54 brls; Drk: 1/05-1/10-1/15) 2003: Black color; very intense blackberry/boysenberry/ripe/Zin light vanilla/Am.oak very spicy loads of Zin fruit nose; big rather tannic intense blackberry/boysenberry/ripe/Zin extracted light oak very spicy flavor; very long/lingering intense blackberry/boysenberry/Zin light oak finish w/ strong tannins; big huge heaps of Zin fruit but plenty of structure for the long haul. $28.00 (ATP)
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Bingo....every so often Paul & John hit one outta the park. Well..they really hammered this one over the fence. One of the best Ridge Zin since...the StoneRanch probably. Very un-Ridge in that it doesn't have the usual Draper perfume or complexity right out of the gate. Just huge spicy Zin fruit, but not at all overripe or jammy. Reminds me of some of their (they being Draper/Bennion...John Olney was just a wee tyke then) Zins from the early '70's, maybe the Occidental. This is one Ridge we're going back for more on. Not to be missed.
11/8/06
Tried this last night w/ leftovers:
1. Ravenswood CabernetSauvignon SonomaCnty (13.0%; 42% SonomaVlly, 49% DryCreek, 9% Knight'sVlly) 1990: Very dark color w/ little bricking; slight herbal rather ripe blackcurranty/Cab lovely cedary/pencilly complex slight licorice nose; soft very smooth/polished lightly herbal/tea ripe/lush/black curranty/Cab/black cherry/spicy rather cedary/pencilly complex flavor; med. smooth/polished/elegant spicy/blackcurranty/Cab slight herbal lovely/complex cedary/pencilly finish w/ little tannins; a lovely/smooth/polished/elegant Cab that has come together beautifully; still very much alive and no signs of going over the hill, but fully ready to drink, a real surprise.
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Ravenswood doesn't get a whole lot of recognition for their Cabs, but they actually make some of the best around. This is one that came together amazingly well.
11/5/06
Tried this last night w/ leftovers:
1. Brander Bouchet Tete de Cuvee SantaYnezVlly TW (70% CabSauv, 16% CabFranc, 14% Merlot) 1990: Very dark slightly murky color w/ light bricking; very interesting herbal/dusty rather Bdx-like minerally/carbon arc/WWII beacon some toasty/cedary/smokey/oak complex nose; bit tart smooth/rounded rather dusty somewhat herbal/Bdx-like cedary/pencilly/smokey/toasty/oak complex tannic/bit dried-out flavor; very long herbal/Bdx-like dusty rather toasty/smokey/oak some tannic/dried-out complex finish; still very much alive and lots of red Bdx character; very interesting and tasty Cab.
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A wee bloody pulpit:
1. SantaYnezVlly Cab has a reputation for producing very herbaceous and unlikable Cabs. I think, by and large, this is a bad rap. I've found plenty of Cabs from both Babcock and Brander and VitaNova that I've liked a lot. Indeed, they often have an herbaceous component that reminds me a lot of red Bordeaux, back afore concentrators were in vogue and the more Calif in style the Bdx is made, the better. True, the SYV Cabs don't taste much like Napa Cabernet, but not so sure that's a bad thing. I'd much rather spend $30 and get a SYV Cab that has some interest than $100+ for a Napa Cab that is just like any other $200+ Napa Cab.
This '90 Brander was one of the best SYV Cabs I've yet had. Kudos to Fred Brander for swimming against the trend and believing great Cab can be made in the SNV. And his SauvBlancs are certainly nothing to snivel at.
TomHill
10/08/06
Tried this wine last night w/ dinner:
1. EricTexier Condrieu Vernon (13%) 2002: Deep burnished gold color; rather nutty/hazelnutty/ slight oxidized slight Condrieu/mineral rather aromatic/complex nose; soft off-dry rich/lush slight hazelnutty/nutty slight mineral unusual flavor w/ a slight prickle and little Viognier fruit; med.short light Condrieu/mineral some nutty/hazelnutty finish; a very weird Condrieu but not at all unlikable. $30.00
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. I had tried the '02 Texier Condrieu (I seen to recall; but could have been the '01) some 7-8 months ago and found it a lean/austere but fairly typical Condrieu/minerally wine. Priced at $54/btl, I was not compelled to try it again.
I spied this Sat afternoon at a wine shop in SantaFe, priced at $30/btl on a distributor's close-out. Thought I'd try this again at a much more attractive price when I spied in small print, apparently stamped on the label... "Vernon". Immediately the adrenalin started pumping and my pulse quickened.....could this be Condrieu from Coteaux de Vedrnon?? Maybe wine from George Vernay, sold to Texier???
I immediately snapped up both btls on the shelf and raced home to crack that sucker open. With trembling hands, I ripped that cork outta the btl and poured my first glass, expecting a superb class of classic Condrieu.
But...but...my hopes were crushed; I was crestfallen. Looking at the color, my first reaction was that it was an oxidized/cooked btl from the distributor's wartehouse. Then I smelled it and picked up that classic hazelnutty character of old Rhone whites. That's it....the 2'nd btl is going back.
But has I tasted it more, it started to grow on me. Yeah...it had some of that slightly oxidized character of old Condrieu/Viognier. But it also had slight traces of the Condrieu minerality that's so distinctive. And a rather overripe character as well. And rather interesting aromatics that I kinda liked.
So...my guess...is that this Condrieu is from the Coteaux de Vernon, maybe unloaded by Georges Vernay himself, and probably from overripe grapes, maybe affected by rot or botrytis. It is very/very atypical of Condrieu. Were I one to worship at the altar of varietal typicity, I would have soundly trashed this wine. However, whatever the wine is, there were a lot of things to like in it; weird as it is.
Tried this yesterday: 10/2
1. DeauxChapeaux RedRhoneWine Syrah (12%) 1993: Dark color w/ slight bricking; beautiful/elegant/complex very roasted/NorthernRhone some espresso/mocha/smokey slight Syrah/blackberry nose; tart/high toned quite roasted/espresso/smokey bit lean/dried out complex lovely flavor; tart bit lean very long intense roasted/smokey/espresso smooth finish w/ little tannins; a beautiful example of a mature Northern Rhone. $15.00
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. This was a wine purchased by Larry Stone and Daniel Johannes and btld under their TwoHats label. It was not particularly impressive in its youth. It is now.
Tried this last night: 10/2
1. Tria Carneros Viognier (13.5%) 1995: Med.gold color; rather pencilly/Mosel valve oil/gout de petrol some spicy/fragrant/peachy/Viognier bit complex lovely/beautiful nose; med.tart very lush/creamy/bit buttery peachy/pear/Viognier quite spicy lovely flavor; long very spicy/peachy/valve oil complex finish; very much alive & vibrant and a genuine pleasure to drink. $21.00
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And a wee BloodyPulpit:
1. I was looking for something to drink with my leftover choucroute garni (Alsatian colloquialism for weenies & kraut; that famed/classic Kansas dish). As I rummaged around in my back room, there was this lost btl of Viognier, standing upright for some 10 yrs, not so good storage conditions. I expected it to be pretty much dead and gone.
It was not....still very much alive and well and a delight to drink. Exactly what the choucroute needed.
This Tria wine was made back when Bill Knuttle (now of DryCreekVnyds and Ottomino, formerly of ChalkHillWnry) still owned the label and was making the wines. There were, in its day, some real gems that Bill produced. This one was nice, but just that, when I first got it. One of those not-so-frequent examples of a Viognier that was improved with age.
Not sure what vnyd this wine came from, as Viognier doesn't seem to be very widely planted in Carnedros.
09/27/06 08:25 AM
Took this wine to a BD dinner in SantaFe for BernieRoth to go with the cheese course:
1. Mayacamas LateHrvst Calif Zin (17%) 1978: Med.dark color w/ slight browning; rather charred/tobaccoy/cedary some ripe/blackberry/Zin/briary fairly complex nose w/ little alcoholic heat; off-dry some blackberry/briary/earthy/dusty/Zin fairly charred/burnt/smokey/oak cedary/tobaccoy/old pipe slightly alcoholic fairly smooth/round flavor w/ no rasined or late harvesty character; med.long off-dry some briary/blackberry/dusty/Zin rather charred/tobaccoy finish w/ light tannins. In remarkably good condition for a 28 yr old LH Zin.
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Un petite BloodyPulpit:
1. I had pretty low expectations for this wine and took it primarily to solidify my reputation in the wine world for decrepit/tired/enfeebled old relics from my archives. I had had my last Maycamas LH '72 about 4-5 yrs ago and thought it was on its last legs, pretty dried out and raisened.
Surprise, the wine was in remarkably good shape, not at all dried out, not at all raisened nor pruney, and seemed to carry the high alcohol pretty well and still had some Amador fruit left in it. A bit like an old vintage Port w/o the alcoholic burn.
With the stinky Herve Mons Soumaintrain (which, I was informed, is a vastly inferior version of Epoisses), I thought it went pretty well. As expected, the wine was pretty soundly vilified by the rest of the dinner party. My reputation is intact!!
Maycamas made one of the first LateHrvst Zins in 1968 from NapaVlly grapes. In 1972, they made their next LH Zin, using AmadorCnty grapes from Ed&Kay Baldenelli's vnyd, now owned by Bill Easton. This '78 version, their #3 LH as I recall (and, alas, my last btl) was fairly sweet in it's youth and packed w/ ripe briary/Amador Zin fruit. Like some of us, it has withstood the test of time, and has come together well and resulted in a wine that's a pleasure (at least to me) to drink, a nice trip down memory lane.
Of course, Bob Travers should be tarred and feathered for pioneering this genre of high-alcohol/extracted Zinfandel. This was at the height of this style in the late-'70's and resulted, of course, in the crash of the Zin market. Bob should hang his head in shame, I think, for foisting off on the unwitting public such a grotesque characticure of fine Zin. Thank goodness they don't make this kind of wine anymore.
8/24/2006 - Tried these two the other night:
1. alma rosa SantaBarbaraCnty PinotGris (12.5%; www.AlmaRosa.com) Richard&Thekla Sanford 2004: Med.light yellow color; lovely floral/aromatic/perfumed quite spicy some minerally nose; tart/rich/lush minerally/chalky very floral/aromatic/gardenia/carnations flavor; long spicy/floral minerally/lush finish; a beautiful floral/minerally PG the equal of any from Alsace; stunningly good wine for $12.60 from Prima IlConsorzia.
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2. RosenblumCllrs SonomaCnty Zin (13.2%; 70 yr old vines) 1988: Very dark near black color w/ slight bricking; beautiful very complex pencilly/smokey/roasted/pungent slight grilled blackberries very cedary/old Bdx nose; soft/smooth Dr.Pepper/black cherry cola/blackberry soda rather cedary/pencilly/old claret very complex slight tannic/dried out flavor; very long/lingering slight blackberry/boysenberry/cola rather dusty/old vines beautiful/complex/old Zin finish; still has plenty of life but ready to start the downhill slide; in terrific shape.
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. I just grabbed this Zin fully expecting it to be dead and gone. What a surprise it was to find it still alive and full of pi$$ & vineagar (Kansas colloquialism). This early Rosenblum was mostly from the Samsel Vnyd afore Kent started making a vnyd designate from it. Note that the alcohol is shockingly low by today's standards. By the next morning, the wine had turned a murky brown and was totally dead & gone.
Tom
Having some more on the way, thought I'd try this w/ dinner 8/14:
1. EdmundsStJohn Roussanne TablasCreekVnyd/PasoRobles (14.5%; www.EdmundsStJohn.com) 2004: Med.yellow color; lovely very fragrant/perfumed some chalky/minerally very floral/honeysuckle/Roussanne almost Riesling-like/pineapply nose; big/rich/lush tart very minerally/chalky very floral/honeyed/honeysuckle bit stoney/earthy spicy big flavor; very long/lingering chalky/minerally ripe/floral/honeysuckle finish; a beautiful/interesting example of Roussanne. $30.00
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Bitty BloodyPulpit:
1. I had this wine when it was first released and was mightly impressed. It had a richness and power to it but also an underlying tart/hard/austere character that suggested it would age for quite a long time. That hard/austere character is slipping away and the wine seems to be developing more aromatics and lushness. Yet it still has a razor-sharp acidity to it, despite the richness and ripeness. I've been mightly impressed w/ how some/many of Steve's whites age and see no reason that this Roussanne won't go for 10 yrs or longer. Amazingly good example of Calif Roussanne.
Tom
Put this wine in my Zin (Turleys) tasting last night as a "throwaway" 8/10:
1. DeLoachVnyds Estate/RussianRvrVlly Zin (14.7%; 1949 cs) 1981: Dark color w/ no browning or bricking; beautiful pencilly/pungent/toasty/smokey very cedary some licorice/peppery/roasted chiles slight horsecollar complex oldBdx nose; soft/smooth/velvety very cedary/charred/pencilly light licorice/dusty/peppery/pungent flavor; very long/lingering velvety/smooth cedary/pencilly/charred/old Bdx finish w/ little tannins; no signs of drying out at all; lots of old Bdx/Cab character; very complex; one of those rare old Zins that has come together well; not only a pleasure to smell, but also a pleasure on the palate; amazingly good old Zin.
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And Cecil gets a BloodyPulpit:
1. I, of course, followed Cecil DeLoach's wines from the very start. After he left his fireman's job and moved to their SantaRosa property to make wine; he proved to be one of the best makers of Zin; I fell in love with his wines. I even loved his powerful Chards, back in the days when I thought oak and Chard were one in the same. From the late '70's thru mid-'80's, his Zins were some of the best Calif had to offer. He then went on to make his single vnyd Zins (Pelletti, now Carlisle; Barbieri, forget the other two). Then, as he ramped up the production, the wines took a serious nosedive. The last time I visited with him, it was clear that he'd lost all his passion for the wine biz; he clearly was more interested in anything other than talking to some wine geek. And the rest is history...production continued to grow, couldn't sell all the wines, finally went kaput and it was sold off.
Cecil now makes wines under his Hook&Ladder label, supposedly from these same Estate grapes. But I've never seen the wine on the shelf nor tasted it; so don't know if Cecil has successfully reinvented himself or not. I hope he does.
Tom
asted recently the following two Viogniers 8/8:
1. Turley TheWhiteCoat SanLuisObispoCnty (15.0%) 2002: Med.yellow color; lovely fragrant/honeyed/floral/honeysuckle/peachy very perfumed light toasty/creamy/oak complex nose; soft big/rich/lush very honeyed/honeysuckle/floral bit spicy/nutmeg light toasty/oak light smokey/charred flavor; very long honeyed/honeysuckle/floral/peachy/Viognier vanilla/toasty/creamy/oak finish; a lovely rich/lush RhoneBlanc
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2. LaJota NapaVlly HowellMtn Viognier (14.5%) 1992: Med.dark burnished gold color; rather nutty/hazelnutty/oxidized/old Chard slight floral/honey nose; tart dried-out rather oxidized/sherry nutty some toasty/oak old Chard flavor; somewhat bitter oxidized/nutty finish; tired and old and over-the-hill.
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. EhrenJordan: Eheren tends to get tarred by the Turley Zin brush of alcoholic/over-oaked/over-the-the-top oafish wines, which was really more Helen Turley's style. I've been very impressed w/ what he's done at both Turley and, especially, Failla.
His first WhiteCoat was pretty oaky/woody, but the more recent ones have been more reigned in and balanced. This '02 was a pretty terrific example of his style.
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2. LaJota Viognier: Bill Smith's LaJota Viognier was one of the very first Viogniers to come out in Calif. He struggled mightly w/ this grape but just never seemed to conquer it and finally gave up and pulled the vines. Probably rightly so. His first ones were rather oaky and Chard like. Then he tried no-oak, neutral oak, slightly sweet, dessert... the whole gamut. But they never seemed to capture that perfumed fragrance that Viognier does best. Maybe HowellMtn and the earthiness it imparts to those wines is not a good place for Viognier?? Certainly, Bill knows how to make great wines.
This '92 was, I believe, his first Viognier. Never much to my liking when young, it has not, unlike some of us, withstood the ravages of time.
Tom
Tried this last night w/ dinner 8/2:
1. ClineCllrs Cool Climate Syrah SonomaCoast Lazy C Ranch (15.0%; www.ClineCellars.com) 2003: Very dark/black color; deep blackberry/blueberry/boysenberry/spicy/Syrah slight toasty/oak nose; soft rich/lush ripe blackberry/blueberry light oak slight earthy flavor; med. ripe/blueberry/blackberry/Syrah spicy light toasty finish w/ light tannins; a pleasant/four-square/utilitarian/working-man Syrah w/ little cold climate character; fairly priced at $15.00.
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. The Lazy C Ranch is a relatively newd vnyd of Cline in the "Stage Gulch area of the Wildcat Mtn range in the Southern end of the Sonoma Coast". As best I can tell, that's the relatively new vnyd area on the hwy between Sonoma and Petaluma, about half way. Not really cold climate like the far west Sonoma Coast, but relatively cool like Carneros.
I've been only a luke-warm fan of the Cline Syrahs in the past, finding them rather soft and soupy and simple. This Syrah sorta fits that mold; nothing really distinctive or grand in the way of Syrah and not that exciting.
That being said, I thought this was, by far, the best Cline Syrah I've ever had. It's actually a rather nice Syrah and more interesting than most. And a fairly good value at $15.00. Worth trying w/ your next burger.
Tom
Tom
